Jeremiah 18
18
The Potter’s Vessel.#The lesson of the potter is that God has the power to destroy or restore, changing his plans accordingly as these nations disobey him or fulfill his will. Cf. Jon 3:10. 1This word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2Arise and go down to the potter’s house; there you will hear my word. 3I went down to the potter’s house and there he was, working at the wheel. 4Whenever the vessel of clay he was making turned out badly in his hand, he tried again, making another vessel of whatever sort he pleased.#Rom 9:20–21. 5Then the word of the Lord came to me: 6Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter has done?—oracle of the Lord. Indeed, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.#Wis 15:7; Is 45:9. 7#Jer 1:10. At one moment I may decree concerning a nation or kingdom that I will uproot and tear down and destroy it; 8but if that nation against whom I have decreed turns from its evil, then I will have a change of heart regarding the evil which I have decreed.#Jer 26:3; Is 55:7; Ez 18:21, 27; Jon 3:10. 9At another moment, I may decree concerning a nation or kingdom that I will build up and plant it; 10but if that nation does what is evil in my eyes, refusing to obey my voice, then I will have a change of heart regarding the good with which I planned to bless it.#Nm 14:22–23.
11And now, tell this to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am fashioning evil against you and making a plan. Return, all of you, from your evil way; reform your ways and your deeds.#Jer 7:3; 25:5; 35:15. 12But they will say, “No use! We will follow our own devices; each one of us will behave according to the stubbornness of our evil hearts!”#Jer 2:25; 7:24.
Unnatural Apostasy
13Therefore thus says the Lord:
Ask among the nations—
who has ever heard the like?
Truly horrible things
virgin Israel has done!#Jer 2:10–11; 5:30.
14Does the snow of Lebanon#Lebanon: here apparently including Mount Hermon, whose snow-capped peak can be seen from parts of Palestine all year round. The prophet contrasts the certainties of nature with Israel’s unnatural desertion of the Lord for idols (v. 15).
desert the rocky heights?
Do the gushing waters dry up
that flow fresh down the mountains?
15Yet my people have forgotten me:
they offer incense in vain.
They stumble off their paths,
the ways of old,
Traveling on bypaths,
not the beaten track.#Jer 2:13, 32.
16Their land shall be made a waste,
an object of endless hissing:#Hissing: in some ancient Near Eastern cultures hissing was not only a sign of derision but a magical means of keeping demons away; people hissed in order to ward off danger, like whistling in a cemetery.
All passersby will be horrified,
shaking their heads.#Jer 19:8; Lv 26:32; 1 Kgs 9:8.
17Like the east wind, I will scatter them
before their enemies;
I will show them my back, not my face,
in their day of disaster.#Prv 1:24–31.
Another Prayer for Vengeance. 18“Come,” they said, “let us devise a plot against Jeremiah, for instruction will not perish from the priests, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophets. Come, let us destroy him by his own tongue. Let us pay careful attention to his every word.”#Jer 11:19; Ps 35:15–16.
19Pay attention to me, O Lord,
and listen to what my adversaries say.
20Must good be repaid with evil
that they should dig a pit to take my life?
Remember that I stood before you
to speak on their behalf,
to turn your wrath away from them.#Ps 35:12.
21So now, give their children#Give their children: often an extended family is meant, to be rewarded or punished as a unit. to famine,#Ps 109:9–10.
deliver them to the power of the sword.
Let their wives be childless and widows;
let their husbands die of pestilence,
their youths be struck down by the sword in battle.
22May cries be heard from their homes,
when suddenly you send plunderers against them.
For they have dug a pit to capture me,
they have hidden snares for my feet;
23But you, Lord, know
all their planning for my death.
Do not forgive their crime,
and their sin do not blot out from your sight!
Let them stumble before you,
in the time of your anger act against them.#Neh 4:5; Ps 35:4; 37:32–33.
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Jeremiah 18
18
Jeremiah at the Potter's House
1The LORD said to me, 2“Go down to the potter's house, where I will give you my message.” 3So I went there and saw the potter working at his wheel. 4Whenever a piece of pottery turned out imperfect, he would take the clay and make it into something else.
5Then the LORD said to me, 6“Haven't I the right to do with you people of Israel what the potter did with the clay? You are in my hands just like clay in the potter's hands. 7If at any time I say that I am going to uproot, break down, or destroy any nation or kingdom, 8but then that nation turns from its evil, I will not do what I said I would. 9On the other hand, if I say that I am going to plant or build up any nation or kingdom, 10but then that nation disobeys me and does evil, I will not do what I said I would. 11Now then, tell the people of Judah and of Jerusalem that I am making plans against them and getting ready to punish them. Tell them to stop living sinful lives — to change their ways and the things they are doing. 12They will answer, ‘No, why should we? We will all be just as stubborn and evil as we want to be.’ ”
The People Reject the LORD
13The LORD says,
“Ask every nation if such a thing
has ever happened before.
The people of Israel have done a terrible thing!
14Are Lebanon's rocky heights ever without snow?
Do its cool mountain streams ever run dry?
15Yet my people have forgotten me;
they burn incense to idols.
They have stumbled in the way they should go,
they no longer follow the old ways;
they walk on unmarked paths.
16They have made this land a thing of horror,
to be despised for ever.
All who pass by will be shocked at what they see;
they will shake their heads in amazement.
17I will scatter my people before their enemies,
like dust blown by the east wind.
I will turn my back on them;
I will not help them when the disaster comes.”
A Plot against Jeremiah
18Then the people said, “Let's do something about Jeremiah! There will always be priests to instruct us, the wise to give us counsel, and prophets to proclaim God's message. Let's bring charges against him, and stop listening to what he says.”
19So I prayed, “LORD, hear what I am saying and listen to what my enemies are saying about me. 20Is evil the payment for good? Yet they have dug a pit for me to fall in. Remember how I came to you and spoke on their behalf, so that you would not deal with them in anger. 21But now, LORD, let their children starve to death; let them be killed in war. Let the women lose their husbands and children; let the men die of disease and the young men be killed in battle. 22Send a mob to plunder their homes without warning; make them cry out in terror. They have dug a pit for me to fall in and have set traps to catch me. 23But, LORD, you know all their plots to kill me. Do not forgive their evil or pardon their sin. Throw them down in defeat and deal with them while you are angry.”
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.